What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?

What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?: Short story by Edward Wortis (aka Avi)The major theme of this story from Edward Wortis (aka Avi) is closed-mindedness. A struggling single mother still treats her sixth-grader son, Willie, as a young child. She is so preoccupied with her troubles that she doesn’t realize he is now an adolescent. Through prejudice, she shuns a beggar on the street. When Willie asks how to cure the beggar’s unhappiness, her answer is money. The beggar’s answer is cryptic: “What a person needs is always more than they (other people) say.” By this, he means everyone’s situation is different; we need to “open our eyes” to understand their needs.

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Little Claus and Great Claus

Little Claus and Great Claus: Short story by H. C. AndersenThis children’s story by Hans Christian Andersen caused a stir among critics when first released because of the violence involved. A poor farmer who develops a talent for swindling people invents stories to explain the source of his newfound wealth to an envious neighbor.. When the greedy neighbor tries to make money the same way, he suffers greatly. In a fit of anger, the neighbor tries to kill the farmer. However this, too, results in an unexpected windfall for the unscrupulous fraudster. Themes include cleverness, fraud, greed, envy, death, turning the tables.

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The Serial Garden

The Serial Garden: Short story by Joan AikenJoan Aiken’s Serial Garden is part of a collection of old-style children’s stories about the Armitage family, who seem to think it completely normal as impossible events take place around them. In the story, a picture on a cereal packet leads a young boy to a magical garden that has been inhabited for fifty years by a haughty princess pining for her lost lover. The boy almost manages to reunite the couple, but his mother accidentally dashes his plan at the last minute. Fortunately, the princess now has a dog to keep her company for the next fifty years!

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Seibei and His Gourds (The Artist)

Seibei and His Gourds (The Artist): Short story by Shiga NaoyaThis story from Shiga Naoya uses situational irony to highlight the importance of encouraging people to pursue their artistic passions. Seibei has a fascination with decorative gourds. He spends all his free time buying natural pods and turning them into the polished decorative pieces. When this causes problems at school, Seibei’s teacher shames his parents into forbidding the hobby and destroying his gourd collection. Unbeknown to all, this may have cost Seibei a lucrative, satisfying career. The disheartened boy complies, but soon takes up another artistic interest. Themes: (Seibei) art, passion, talent, obedience, resilience; (his parents) narrow-mindedness.

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Mowgli’s Brothers

Mowgli's Brothers: Short story by Rudyard KiplingThe major themes of this children’s story from Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book are nature vs. nurture, identity, and respect for the law. When an abandoned “man cub” is adopted by a family of wolves, the wolf parents face two challenges: having the child accepted as a member of the Pack, and protecting him from a crazed tiger who does not follow the “Law of the Jungle”. Things go well until the awakening of the boy’s human reasoning capacity leads to an existential crisis and his eventual expulsion from the Pack. Other themes: abandonment and adoption, family, community, envy, survival.

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Raymond’s Run

Raymond's Run: Short story by Toni Cade BambaraRaymond’s Run by Toni Cade Bambara is about a feisty school girl nick-named ‘Squeaky’ who helps take care of Raymond, her mentally challenged older brother. Squeaky is a very talented runner. She trains hard and desperately wants to win this years’ May Day race to show up an annoying and over-confidant new girl in town. During the race she sees Raymond running along the outside of the track keeping pace with her. She suddenly decides that winning races doesn’t matter as much as it used to. Themes: responsibility (care-giving), identity, independence, alienation, pride, rivalry, personal growth, respect.

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The Circuit

The Circuit: Short story by Francisco JiménezThis is a chapter from the The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child, a collection of autobiographical short stories by Francisco Jiménez. The title refers to the way many migrant laborers move from place to place over a year in search of seasonal farm work. For the children of this close-knit family, this means poor living conditions, never being in one place long enough to have permanent friends, working in the fields when old enough, and limited opportunities to attend school. Themes include family, poverty, perseverance, impermanence, loneliness, language and communication, child labor, lack of educational opportunities.

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The Blue Umbrella

The Blue Umbrella: Short story by Ruskin BondIn this story by Ruskin Bond, a poor girl from the Himalayan foothills trades her tiger’s-claw lucky charm for a magnificent, though impractical silk umbrella. She is the envy of her village, and vainly parades it everywhere she goes. The village teashop owner covets the umbrella, and tries to acquire it by fair means and foul. Ultimately, the girl and shop owner realize their mutual folly. The girl gives him the umbrella, which he shares with the whole village, and she is greatly rewarded for her kindness. Themes include innocence, beauty, vanity, envy, materialism and greed, compassion, kindness and generosity.

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